Amaris curled up on the cold damp floor of the dungeon, breathing heavily. Today was her eighteenth birthday, yet here she was, having the 'best' birthday ever.
The wounds inflicted on her were truly heavy. Her breaths came in short, painful gasps. Living was already a very unpleasant task as it was. And she sighed again, the gears turning in her head.
'What exactly did I do wrong? Other omegas are not in the best conditions, but their lives aren't as bad as mine. Am I truly a cursed child as the rumors suggest? Who are my parents?'
The moment she thought about her parents, the tattoo on her upper arm began to throb, giving her a lot of pain. She had noticed that each time she thought of her absentee parents the tattoo on her arm began to throb hard.
Amaris was almost certain that it was related to her heritage and roots. But try as she might she couldn't remember a thing about her parents. After all, she had been a baby when she was abandoned. What could a seven months old baby possibly recall?
"They're probably dead, or don't want me. It's useless thinking about them. And I can't hope for any mate to save me either. Omegas only mate with their fellow omegas. There has been no exception ever since the last celestial war. It's laughable imagining that the goddess would match me with a wolf strong enough to get me out of this hell hole, especially not when I don't even have a wolf. Fairy tales don't exist, especially for people like me."
She sighed heavily and slowly adjusted her position.
Just then, the dungeon doors opened and she slowly looked up. A guard stood by the doorway, the key in his hands.
"You're free to go. The Luna asked for you, some of her friends wanted to see you."
"Great, now she's going to show off her defective tool which have been receiving charity from her, and humiliate me for their amusement. I can't take this anymore, I need a way out.'
She was full of complaints inside, but she didn't dare to say anything, and barely managed a slight nod to acknowledge the acceptance of the order. Acting disobedient in her current condition was basically a suicide mission.
Another beating would send her straight to the grave, and she had no plans of dying without turning her life around—for the better.
*****
Amaris looked at her left hand, wrapped in bandages after the guards crushed her fingers, then at the sky, as if questioning the gods up there. It was nearly evening, and the party was off in full swing. If she goes out now that the entire ballroom is packed, she was sure to receive the shame of a lifetime. But what could she do? What option does a slave possibly have?
A sweet smell hit her nose as she turned to the corner that will take her to the main building where the party was being hosted, and she couldn't help but take deep breaths of the scent. She willed her legs to stay put, but she found herself moving along anyways.
She came to a halt at a hidden corner of the kitchen garden and looked up. Her eyes met that of alpha Gavin, the young alpha who had snuck out from the party for a quick smoke.
The cigarette fell from his fingers, and his mouth dropped open in shock. Anger, disdain, then disgust, and refusal to accept the fact before him all danced on his face, like an open book, not hiding his displeasure at all.
"Impossible! The goddess must be crazy! How can my mate be the pack mutt, an omega who is not only stupid but also wolfless."
He walked to her, and grabbed her throat, choking her.
'Mate bond? That was it, the sickening sweet smell and uncontrollable attraction just now was the mate bond. It's no surprise I couldn't tell, I have no wolf after all.'
Without warning, he crashed his lips on hers, startling her. Her eyes widened, her heart pounded in a mixture of horror, fear, and the thrill of engaging in the forbidden. Then disgust when she recalled how many girls he had fucked. The shock kept her rooted to the spot, unable to react. But the sight of Marissa watching her from the background with a murderous expression was enough to snap her awake.
She quickly pushed him away and he spat out the blood in his mouth… he had bit Amaris mercilessly to make a point.
"Dream of being my mate? Hell no! A disgusting little wench like you can never be my mate. You barely qualify to be one of my whores. But before then, I must do the necessary."
"I, Gavin Brent of the Blood howl pack, rejected you, Amaris 'whoever you are', as my mate and Luna. The mischievous goddess must have been drunk when she made this thing my mate."
Humiliation burned not just Amaris's cheek which had turned red, but also her veins. Not only because of the rejection, but also because of the way he addressed and humiliated her.
Yes, that's right. She was the girl without a surname, a family name. She was the girl from nowhere, whom everyone looked down on. The unwanted trash—a total nobody.
"I, Amaris 'your grandma', accept your rejection." She spat and quickly ran away, leaving Gavin reeling from shock at being so blatantly insulted.
She bumped into someone as she ran blindly, tears streaming down her face, and quickly looked up, sniffing, only for her eyes to meet Marissa whose eyes were shooting laser beams at her. If looks could kill, Amaris would have dropped dead instantly. Livid was an understatement, Marissa looked ready and willing to kill as she stared at Amaris with so much hatred in her eyes like she stole her husband. Well, she almost did… that's if Gavin didn't reject her.
"The temerity. How dare you try to seduce my man by spraying fake pheromones to make him think you're his mate?"
"Excuse me?" Amaris asked, utterly flabbergasted by the ridiculous nonsense she just heard.
"You must have a death wish!" Marissa growled in anger, her spit flying all over Amaris's face.
"Look here, Marissa. This is a misunderstanding. I…" The rest of her words trailed off as Marissa shut her up with a slap.
"You annoying…" Amaris snapped, raising her hand to fight back.
But her hand was captured mid air before it could connect with the target, making her surprised. She turned around to see burly men with sticks. One of them had an eye patch. Worse, they were not from the pack. It didn't take a genius to know they were thugs… rogues that Marissa hired to deal with her.
"You know, I was going to let you off with a minor warning, cripple you and ruin your face. But with tonight's incident, there's no need to show you mercy. Disability ain't enough. You need to be eliminated—permanently. Otherwise, who knows what a scheming wretch like you would be able to come up with? You dared to kiss my man, go kiss your grave then." Marissa whispered, her voice smug as she sneered at Amaris.
"I never tried to steal…"
Marissa slapped her while two men held her still.
"You want to say that he forced you, and that you didn't scheme your way to him tonight?" She whispered viciously, her nails digging into the delicate flesh on Amaris's face.
She scoffed and kept quiet, looking at Marissa defiantly, her eyes burning with impotent anger. What could she possibly do against them? Nothing… absolutely nothing.
"Beat her to a pulp, when she's almost dead, throw her down the nightshade forest for the wild bears to feast on. Make sure she still has a bit of sanity when you dump her. I want her to experience every bit of agony, with each chunk of flesh the sweet creatures tear off. Let's see how she will go around seducing men when she turns to a skeleton."
And they did just that, beat her to a pulp and abandoned her at the forbidden lands, way past the border, at the periphery of the nightshade forest. A bear roared at the distance, making its way to Amaris, just like Marissa wanted. Running away was impossible, she couldn't even if she wanted to.
"Is this how I die? I refuse to die like this." She muttered, losing consciousness just as the shadow of the bear covered her.